… strip, meant to attract bees and other busy insects to the smorgasbord of food plants growing in the garden. Smart gardeners know that it's the presence of pollinators—the bees, butterflies, … moths, beetles, flies, and other insects (plus hummingbirds)—that makes the difference in the health and fertility and productivity of wild plants, food plants, and landscape plants alike. Recent news about the die-off in honey bee colonies and the decline in monarch populations makes the issue of pollinators …
Type: Plant Info
… In 1926 when Eva Kenworthy Gray of California launched her at-home hybridizing of fibrous … with thick canes or stems, often brilliant foliage and heavy clusters of dangling flowers in cherry red, orange, salmon, pink and white. They can be easily identified by the folded, often feathery, winglike leaves that appear speckled, polka-dotted, banded or splotched in multicolors, including metallic silver. The splashiness of color and pattern in the foliage …
Type: Plant Info
… Peony's a charming lady, she doesn't like a spot too shady; likes to live out in the light, dressed in red or pink or white. --Elizabeth Gordon Peony plants are some of the oldest perennials in cultivation. There are woody small shrubs (euphemistically referred to as tree peonies) in …
Type: Plant Info
… own native bees. Illinois is home to about 500 species of bees that are important pollinators in natural areas, in agricultural fields, and in our gardens. Like honey bees, native bees are threatened by pesticides, habitat loss, disease, …
Type: Plant Info
… College student Jessica Tillery came to the Chicago Botanic Garden for the summer to work in a plant science lab, hoping to jump start her career in habitat restoration—which she did. And she got the chance to develop something she wasn’t … friends. And those relationships, Tillery said, “made her experience.” Tillery was an intern in the Garden’s 2022 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program in Plant Conservation. …
Type: Blog
… A large wading bird walks in the shallow waters, can be seen looking for snails and mussels. In appearance, they can look like a cross between a crane and rail. Their plumage is brown with … them to cut snails out from their shells without breaking it. At night or dawn when it awakes in the early morning, loud wails fill the air. Limpkins are not year-round residents here at the …
Type: Birding
… Q. For several summers now, I have noticed plenty of bumblebees in my garden but very few honeybees. What is the reason? A. The honeybee has been a victim of two different mites—a tracheal mite and a Varroa mite. In addition, severe weather conditions over the past several years have threatened their numbers. … to gardeners, that are capable of pollinating fruits, vegetables and other crops. Some nest in wood cavities or underground burrows. Before you swat that "strange flying insect" in your …
Type: Plant Info
… time to prune a cherry tree? A. The best time to prune a cherry tree or to remove dead wood is in the summer. Pruning in summer reduces the risk of introducing disease through a fresh cut. It is important to keep … the tree will need little attention later. Suckers can be removed from the base of the tree in early spring. Be sure not to cut into the tree's roots when removing suckers. A Japanese …
Type: Plant Info
… by adding any of the following to your landscape: Clethra alnifolia (summersweet) blooms in July; Cotinus coggygria (smoke tree) blooms in midsummer; Hydrangea quercifolia (oakleaf hydrangea) blooms in early summer but holds its flower heads until the fall; Itea virginica (sweetspire) blooms in …
Type: Plant Info
… L. lancifolium, L. bulbiferum, L. sargentiae and L. davidii ) produce shiny black bulbils in the leaf axils of the plant — right next to the main stem. These are specialized reproductive … they fall off and take root on their own, or they may be harvested from the parent plant in early autumn and set in trays of loamy potting compost spaced about 1 inch apart and 1 inch deep. The trays should be …
Type: Plant Info
